Goodwin Gone
 

I can't believe I'm the first to post this?!!

1P MP Sup told me at 100p today that Goodwin is gone and that emplyoees knew as early as last Friday and were given official internal announcement on Thursday.

Where's the FT clamor!?

Wow !!! Has this been in the news yet...?

Who is taking over?

It's not on MarketWatch. Are you sure this has been announced?

Could be true but I'm skeptical there's been an announcement - nothing in the Washington Post, NY Times, or Chicago Tribune.

As of 1528 PDT on 26 October, there has been absolutely no announcement or communication of Goodwin's demise to any employee group on the property.

That isn't to say that he is indeed not being cut, it just is hush hush at the moment.

[This message has been edited by basenji (edited 10-26-2001).]

This is indeed a huge question. No one on the board is talking, not even John Peterpaul who can be usually relied upon for some anti-Goodwin rhetoric. Peterpaul left the Wednesday meeting *enraged* according to a source of mine, so its safe to infer that he did not get his way over an immediate replacement of Jimmy G. But whether the board game him a new vote of confidence, or merely asked him to continue while they try to lure Greg Brenneman or Gerry Greenwald is up to speculation.

Next week is a big week for the airline industry. US Airways, Delta, Continetal and UAL all announce quarterly earnings. Monthly load factors should be announced on Friday. I'm not sure replacing a CEO at this critical time is in anyone's best interests? Waiting a week or two to announce a resignation and new appointment seems reasonable. I just hope everyone, well the unions anyway, are happy with their new leader. The Mechanics and FA's are anxiously awaiting a new CEO to shake-down.

Talked to an employee...

All that was announced was the "emergancy meeting" schedueuled for yesterday (which in fact was not an emergancy, it was just a regular meeting). No word on Goodwin!

Zach

...and then I woke up.

Oh, well.

Aparently Greenwald has surfaced in the internal phone directory with the title of "Chairman and CEO" (WHQPO)

Of course, he could have always been there and my snout was confused.... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

------------------
RichardMEL, UA 1K
A Star Alliance Member.

I'm sorry to have apparently posted erroneous info. Not my normal MO. I even have the MP Sups name, but to avoid another slumgoddess scenario, I'm going to stay quiet. Suffice to sday, she was a 35 yr. veteran of UA/MP and seemed to be quite credible.

Didn't mean to confuse y'all with a false alarm from what I thought was a reliable first hand source.

Beaubo-

Not to worry - it may indeed be true but I highly doubt that someone that works at MP would really have that information....

Rumours are rampant about all sorts of issues at United. I've been hearing all sorts of crazy scenarios....

basenji-

thanks for your kind words!

i don't suppose i'll ever bump into you CLE-ORD or ORD-GRB/ATW??

how 'bout ORD-NRT, NRT-BKK?

San Francisco news radio station KCBS is reporting this morning (1115 PST) that Goodwin has resigned.

Greg

[edited to reflect that it's no longer PDT]

[This message has been edited by greg99 (edited 10-28-2001).]

From the UAL website:

http://www.ual.com/site/primaryPR/0,...28_960,00.html


"CHICAGO, Oct. 28, 2001 – UAL Corporation (NYSE: UAL), parent company of United Airlines, announced today that John W. Creighton has been elected chairman and chief executive officer by the unanimous vote of the company’s board of directors following the resignation of James E. Goodwin. Mr. Creighton is a member of UAL’s board of directors. . .

Mr. Creighton has been a director of UAL Corporation since 1998. Earlier, he served as president and chief executive officer of Weyerhaeuser Company from 1991 through 1997, and he was a director of that company from 1988 through 1998. He has been a director of Unocal since 1995."

A more complete bio:

http://www.ual.com/site/primaryPR/0,...28_959,00.html

For the webcast press conference with the new CEO (1515 EST today, Oct. 28):

http://www.ual.com/site/primaryPR/0,...28_958,00.html

I'm not sure I would call this an inspired pick, but then again, I don't know anything about the guy. . .

I wish him all the luck in the world - he'll need it.

Greg



[This message has been edited by greg99 (edited 10-28-2001).]

Beau,

Looks like you jumped the gun in retracting your newsflash!!

Props to Beau. . .

From the AP, as published on sfgate.com:

United Airlines chief executive James Goodwin resigned Sunday, saying it was time "for a new leader to guide the organization" which has struggled greatly since the Sept. 11 attacks.

Goodwin's resignation came two weeks ago after a letter he wrote to employees was made public. In it, he predicted the troubled airline could perish unless its fortunes were reversed.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...446EST0020.DTL

Makes Nick's comment re: Creighton caretaking seem a likely scenario.

Greg

[This message has been edited by greg99 (edited 10-28-2001).]

Thanks gregg99! It's the best news I've heard in ages!!!!!!

Not sure much is changed. Same problems: Oversupply in the industry; fractious union relations; security issues in flying; increasing fuel costs; overall future uncertainties.

Goodwin is probably having his own private sigh of relief. New guy will need tons of good luck, as will the company.

------------------
AAExecPlat; Lifetime AAirpass; 3MillMiles; UApremier-PassPlus

As they often say on the South Side of Chicago:

Between Ferris, Wolf, and Goodwin over the last 20 years, it's amazing that this airline still exists!

The new guy sounds like a caretaker. Maybe they'll make Neutron Jack an offer he can't refuse to rescue UA?

koko would be so proud if www.goodwinmustgo.com had anything to do with this...

second point... why would they do this on a sunday?

Was anyone able to log into the webcast? It just hung on me.

Greg

I hope the employees embrace him, and based on Frick's comments above in this same thread, we're off to a good start.

See how the stock behaves tomorrow on the NYSE. Also, am waiting to see what Holly Hegeman has to say (Fulltime UA basher) in her next column. A couple of non-sentimental yardsticks out there. If they like it, who knows.

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AAExecPlat; Lifetime AAirpass; 3MillMiles; UApremier-PassPlus

kokos's probably got a headache today after partying into the night after the STIFFS banquet http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Woohooo!!!

Y'know, I don't know if the new guy will be able to do any better, but I suspect that things would have really gone over the cliff
if he hadn't done this. UA has little place to go but up from here...

JD

Goodwin, you are the weakest link. Goodbye.

If this new chairman is indeed the one who can turn things around, I'm emphasizing the long and medium-run viewpoint. The stock market and columnists may hammer UA for sometime, but if the employees start supporting this airline (as Richard of FT mentioned long ago), many things will get fixed without trying. Thus, short-term negatives\positives aren't concerning me as much as the employees respecting and treating this man as their leader.

chexfan: (1) For publicity purposes; they're more likely to get "top billing" (in Monday's newspapers) than if the announcement were made during the business week. (2) The U.S. financial markets are closed ... we'll see how the rest of the world reacts before Wall Street gets busy ...

crank: appreciate your comment. But wouldn't you agree that it is still important for the long-term viability of the company to have revenue (paid by PAX) to exceed expenses (salaries of pilots, FA's, machinists, reservationists, ramp workers; fuel; debt, etc). This would seem to be the case, even if the employees respected and supported the CEO.

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AAExecPlat; Lifetime AAirpass; 3MillMiles; UApremier-PassPlus

Here is another link with information on the resignation:

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/2001...n_resigns.html

---

It's true. You were quite correct!

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum50/HTML/008571.html

This is good news indeed! Koko's prayers have been answered! Now lets hope the new fellow on the block gets things back on the right track.

Aparently Goodwin has been "clearing out his desk" since last Tuesday....

------------------
RichardMEL, UA 1K
A Star Alliance Member.

A little OMNI here but since I knew everyone at the STIFFS dinner last night, I now get to guess who snake is. Hmmmm, anyone want to guess?

And yes, you are right, Koko was the major partier last night. There wasn't a Koko sighting this morning.

The last thing United needs now is neutron Jack. Let's just hope the caretaker can get revenue and expense matched up.

btw....do you think it's too early to send him an e-mail about United Connection???????????????????????

Fullfare, yes, fully agree on rev must be greater than expenses for long-term survival. I think employee-morale affects both rev and expenses in that concerned PhoneResAgents & Check In Agents & Flight Attendants will make the flying experience much better, and thus increase the revenue side. Concerned employees will also lead to greater productivity, and thus, improve the cost side. Implementing the cost-saving techniques may take some time but when the employees are eager to please the boss and the customer, the long-term goals are more readily attainable.



[This message has been edited by crankyusi (edited 10-28-2001).]

re: Author Topic: Goodwin Gone
beaubo

You were right, beaubo. Good reporting! Thank you.

(Weyerhauser. didn't they make Irons? So uniforms will be well-pressed? and he was on the BOD overseeing Goodwin... hopefully one of the doubters)

When I see the unions giving up some of their "industry-leading" wages to keep their brethren from being fired I'll believe a recovery for UAL is possible. Until then, they are just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.